Woman Gets 13 Years For Child-sex Abuse * Judge Said The Maximum Sentence Was Warranted By The Nature Of The Assaults.

September 13, 1997|by JAY RICHARDS (A free-lance story for The Morning Call).

A Monroe County woman was sentenced to 13 years in New Jersey state prison by the N.J. Superior Court Friday for sexual assault and endangering the welfare of children.

Deborah Sue Roe, 32, whose last known address was 211 N. 8th St., Stroudsburg, was sentenced to eight years in state prison for sexual assault. She was given concurrent sentences of five years for endangering the welfare of a child, and four years for bail jumping and four counts of endangering the welfare of children.

Superior Court Judge John Kingfield explained that Roe's actual minimum sentence before parole eligibility is three years, six months and 28 days, with 301 days jail credit, for the consecutive sentences.

From August 1990 until her arrest in 1995, Roe abused four children in Hackettstown, Belvidere and Frelinghuysen Township. Roe and her husband, Thomas B. Roe, 41, were both indicted on sexual assault and endangering charges. In January 1996, Roe and her husband, who was awaiting trial, fled to Arizona. Deborah Roe was convicted in absentia. They were arrested in Phoenix about a year later.

Assistant Prosecutor John Laky pointed out that Roe had been convicted of aggravated assault on a child on Feb. 3, 1989, for fracturing the skull and ribs of a baby girl. In August 1990, Roe had been released on parole. Laky said Roe began to abuse her four victims (three girls and a boy) almost as soon as she left prison.

Laky noted that one of the girls was Roe's principal target. "She was starved and had to pick up crumbs off the floor to eat. She was tied to a bed. She had `bull bites' on her head and legs. She was fed human feces while locked in the basement and was forced to eat off the floor like a dog. Her face was shoved into the toilet," Laky said.

Laky said another girl had bite marks on her scalp, and her fingers were bitten by Roe to make her cry. He said the boy was stripped in front of other children and was sexually assaulted.

Laky said the child abuse was ongoing over a long period of time. "No place was safe for children. Even when she admits to doing this, she doesn't understand how she abused the children. She doesn't know how she harmed the children. She cannot see how she was inappropriate in her behavior toward children," he said.

Roe said with tears in her eyes, "I do understand what I've done, and I have to live with it all my life."

Kingfield said, "Anything less than one consecutive sentence would be to ignore the seriousness and number of victims in this case." Noting the "egregious and excessive" violence enacted on one of the girls, the judge said the maximum sentence was warranted for that charge of endangerment.

Kingfield noted that in some cases the defendant may not have been the principle perpetrator of some of the child abuse, but she let it happen.

Thomas Roe was indicted on two counts of first degree aggravated sexual assault, one count of sexual assault and five counts of endangering the welfare of children. He remains in county jail awaiting trial and sentencing.